Electric-field-induced reorientation of liquid crystalline p-cyanophenyl-p-n-alkylbenzoates: a time-resolved study by fourier transform infrared transmission and attenuated total reflection spectroscopy.

Time-resolved polarization Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) transmission and attenuated total reflection (ATR) spectroscopy were applied to investigate the reorientation phenomena of the three members of the homologous series of nematic liquid crystalline p-cyanophenyl-p-n-alkylbenzoates 6CPB, 7CPB, and 10CPB under the external perturbation of an electric field. In conjunction with a newly constructed measurement cell, this method allowed us to differentiate the response of the LC system in the surface layer and in the bulk of the cell at different temperatures and voltages. The relaxation time of the LC molecules close to the wall of the cell was found to be shorter than in the bulk. However, at a field strength of 7 V, the initial orientation in the bulk preceeds the analogous process in the surface region.